Murder at Midnight – Starring Jason Durr, Susie Blake and Max Bowden

Murder at Midnight will arrive at Derby Theatre from Friday 5 to Saturday 13 September 2025. The play will star stage and screen favourites Jason Durr (Heartbeat, Casualty), Susie Blake (Victoria Wood as seen on TV, Coronation Street) and Max Bowden (Birdsong, EastEnders). It will be directed by Philip Franks (Murder in the Dark, The Mousetrap). Further cast and creatives are to be announced. 

Murder at Midnight blends razor-sharp wit with chilling suspense, proving that even the best-laid plans can unravel spectacularly when the wrong people are in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. 

It’s New Year’s Eve in rural Kent, and Jonny “The Cyclops” has decided to throw a party.  But amidst the drinking, music and fireworks exploding overhead, a twisted trail of destruction emerges. As midnight looms, tarot cards foretell doom, police lights flash in the distance and a killer is in the house. Everyone’s hiding something – but who’s telling the truth? 

Max Bowden said: “I’m excited to begin working on this ambitious new dark comedy from a writer and a team I admire greatly. It’s a new challenge and an exciting shift for my career, and I’m looking forward to working with Original Theatre again.” 

Philip Franks said: “Murder at Midnight is a dark and often very funny thriller set in the luxury Kent mansion of a one eyed drug dealer, pig farmer and possible gangland killer, Jonny “The Cyclops”. At midnight on New Year’s Eve his past is catching up with him fast. It’s Feydeau rewritten by Tarantino.” 

Murder at Midnight is produced by the award-winning Original Theatre who brought audiences Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, the sell-out thriller Murder in the Dark and the critically acclaimed drama Birdsong.   

For more information and Murder at Midnight updates, visit the Derby Theatre website here: Murder at Midnight – Derby Theatre or follow us on social media (Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube – @derbytheatre).